Missed Opportunities from Commander Starter Decks 2022

WotC has announced another batch of Commander Decks, due in December 2022.  Billed as starter decks and with a $20 price point (based on Amazon), these decks have potential to make everyone happy, which means they'll make few people happy.  

Now that decklists are available, we can see several expected cards, as well as all the missed opportunities to make these decks actually useful how they'll be played.  After all, it's not going to be these decks playing against one another, but a player bringing one of these unaltered to a seasoned table at a game store and being blown out of the water.  

Then if those players are nice to the starter player, they'll point out cards that may help with the strategy, then the starter player will see the price tag of many of those cards and say 'screw it.'

The good news with these starters is that if a person buys all 5, they'll end up with a solid start on staple ramp and point removal, as well as a few other useful cards - all of which can be purchased for less than $100 individually.  Such is life.

But I want to talk about missed opportunities.  These decks provided a chance to get more copies of desirable cards into circulation, as well as a chance to show new players what decks should strive to be.  WotC opted to not do this, so under each deck, I comment on cards that could have been, but obviously weren't - and not all of my suggestions are bank-breakers (although many are).

-----

With the themes of mill, zombies, and reanimation, this deck kind of does all these, but badly.

The good news is that the Wilhelt BU Zombie Commander deck (a video breakdown) is still readily available, so between that one and this new starter, you have a solid Zombie deck. 

Missed Opportunities: Rot Hulk, Conjurer's Closet, Cloudstone Curio, Court of Cunning, Apprentice Necromancer, Rise of the Dark Realms, Reanimate, Cackling Fiend, Exhume, Living Death, Patriarch's Bidding, Coffin Queen (with the sweet Kaja Foglio art), The Scarab God, Gravecrawler, Mikaeus, the Unhallowed, Relentless Dead, Grimgrin, Corpse-born, Noxious Ghoul, Kindred Dominance, Grave Pact, Finale of Eternity, and Necroduality.

-----

Draconic Destruction is the name, and Dragon Tribal is the game.  Between this deck and the Forgotten Realms Draconic Rage deck, you can get something solid.

Missed opportunities are Terror of the Peaks; Hellkite Charger and Bear Umbra; Court of Bounty; Stormbreath Dragon; Herald's Horn; Balefire Dragon; Dragonborn Champion; Goldspan Dragon; Green Dragon; Mana-Charged Dragon; Moonveil Dragon; Old Gnawbone; Red Dragon; Scourge of the Throne; Utvara Hellkite; Wrathful Red Dragon; Carnelian Orb of Dragonkind; Jade Orb of Dragonkind; Draconic Intervention; Orb of Dragonkind; Rhythm of the Wild; Urza's Incubator, Aggravated Assault, Savage Beating, Seize the Day, and Nature's Will.

-----

This deck's theme is flying creatures, as well as proof that WotC is willing to reprint the Game Night exclusive cards, as both Inspired Sphinx and Sphinx of Enlightenment are within.  There is also quite a bit of card draw based on creatures swinging.

Missed opportunities: Court of Grace, Brainstorm, Ponder, Consecrated Sphinx, Luminarch Ascension, Serra the Benevolent, Valkyrie Harbinger, Sunscorch Regent, Reliquary Tower, Supreme Verdict, Cyclonic Rift, Fractured Identity, Azorius Charm, Thoughtweft Gambit, Drogskol Reaver, Elite Guardmage, and Swans of Bryn Argyl.

-----

Random damage? Chaos? Destruction? A collection of neat, but unrelated Black and Red cards? At least there are a few solid cards in the mix.  Still, leaning into the 'random neat cards' strategy could have been done so much better.

This deck's greatest Missed Opportunity is a focused strategy; as for cards... Teferi's Puzzle Box, Winds of Change, Exquisite Blood, Repercussion, Last Laugh, Archfiend of Despair, Calculating Lich, Fiendish Duo, Wound Reflection, Shadowgrange Archfiend, Silverclad Ferocidons, Court of Ire, Court of Ambition, Exsanguinate, Torment of Hailfire, Revel in Riches, Massacre Wurm, Polluted Bonds, Insurrection, Fiery Emancipation, Imp's Mischief, and Mogis, God of Slaughter.

Given that WotC took the 'no cohesive strategy' route, they could have jammed in lots of solid cards and kept to 'no cohesive strategy.'  To be honest, I am most disappointed with this deck - I love BR decks and know how much fun they can be, yet we get this pile.

-----

Spamming the field with token creatures is a time-honored strategy in GW decks and is one I enjoy, so I know that many of this deck's inclusions are poor choices.

Missed opportunities: Anointed Procession, Parallel Lives, Aura Shards, Hero of Bladehold, Triumph of the Hordes (I knew this wouldn't be included, but it should be!), Earthshaker Giant, Devout Invocation, Divine Visitation, Finale of Glory, Court of Grace, Burgeoning, Cryptolith Rite, Arachnogenesis, Midnight Guard (to go with the already included Presence of Gond), Drumbellower, Join Shields, Mobilize, Vitalize, To Arms!, Soul Warden, Essence Warden, Soul's Attendant, and Daxos, Blessed by the Sun.

-----

Granted, jamming all those cards into the decks wasn't expected, but a few per deck would have been nice.  The right mix (something currently pricey) in each deck would assure that all the decks would be sold at a higher volume, if only to break into pieces.  What's more is that new players would stumble across the bombs and huge powerplays that make Commander so much fun.

But no.  Players get to bounce creatures off one another until they win except for that BR deck - I am still not sure what it is going to do to secure a victory.

In short, WotC blew it with these starter decks.  If nothing else, readers can use my bitching about missed opportunities as a wishlist for improving these decks.

Thanks for reading.